Page 136 of Winter Gods & Serpents

“Am I funny to look at?” she asked, dropping her spoon loudly on the table. Appearing almost upset.

“Why do you ask?”

She frowned and pointed to my face. “This is the most internally amused I have seen you since we have met.”

“It’s not amusement.”

She stared at me doubtfully before resuming her eating. “A chunk of wood is more giving,” she murmured, glancing annoyed at me. I almost laughed again, earning another glare from her. Adoration, she was adorable in this form.

“You suppose this Elias has the information you are looking for?”

She stopped chewing and raised her eyes to me, cheeks swollen with food. “Yes, that Elias is Elias Venzor, son of Lord of Venzor.”

A lord’s son? Had what I’d gathered actually been true, was she truly attempting a coup on her father? Yet the question I asked did not match the one I wanted to ask. “A lover?”

She finally swallowed, her tongue sweeping over her lips. “Not the word I’d use.” Tapping her stomach gleefully, she leaned back. “Kilian, what else is there in Seraphim, tell me.”

I took a seat across her. “Please, is the word you were looking for.”

She extended a hand over my arm, her fingers tracing lines and circles and she rose from her side of the table. My eyes fought hard not to admire all of her form.

Leaning close to me, she fluttered her lashes, her locks spilling over my shoulder, scent of summer in my air. “Pretty please,” her voice but a purr as she spoke over my ear. “Asshole.”

The beast was indeed funny—too funny, usually it was hard to smile, she made it hard not to smile. I didn’t fight it, I was amused. “Very convincing, but I am not Elias. No need to try so hard, words would have sufficed.”

Her eyes fell to my mouth, proving indeed that she needn’t try any harder, she had me right there. “Forgot my face is enough for you.” She shot a glance below to between my legs before wiggling her brows playfully at me.

Hells. The hells was going on? The hells was I reacting this sort?

I sighed, crossing my arms, ignoring the tightening of my body. “Seraphim? It might take me a while to remember now that I think about it.”

She rose her hands in surrender and sat back in her chair, flicking a hand in the air for me to continue.

“Their last king was a known collector. Jewels, animals, books, herbs, potions, relics, and all sorts. He was a scholar with a desire of knowledge and connection with the spiritual, always hungry to discover more, it was the reason of their fall; he wanted too much and what he could not have, road to the gods. People still have the misconception that Seraphim belonged to the elementals, but they were blessed by a spiritual god, Adan. Their city, Hayes, was the carrier of the first flame, it still remains burning there to this day, it is called the first blessing. They were the first city to be gifted the Aura of a god—the city that brought fire to the world. It symbolizes more than just the element; fire is warmth, therefore they could manipulate kindness and the seasons as well by warming or cooling the earth.”

“Hells, Kilian,” she said wide eyed interrupting me. “What did you swallow, ‘Dardanes thousand steps to history’ or ‘Numen liber to after the ascending’?”

Rubbing the bridge of my nose I sighed. “You were not listening,”

“Continue, I like it when you talk history to me,” she said waving her hand again, leaning into the chair, a smile hitched on her face.

Dizzy—it made me dizzy.

“My point was,” I said clearing my throat. “Your father could want that, the flame of Hayes, to warm his lands, not only physically.”

“Cold is god blessed, cannot be melted.”

“It is, but so is the flame, they come both from heavens.”

A beam of interest radiated in her eyes before she scowled in thought to herself. “Why would Solarya want it too?”

“To have some leverage over your father, to make him dependent on their trade, revenge for the agreement; the list can go on and on.”

And like that the interest faded. “You have little faith on the Solaryans, they are not so petty.”

“Why do you think he is after something else?”

She crossed her arms, her tongue brushed over the cut on her lip as she pensively held the silence, looking unsure if she wanted me to know or not.